tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15199334083891395222018-03-06T00:48:54.054+05:30CustommerceSrininoreply@blogger.comBlogger37125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1519933408389139522.post-28835708317441707382013-11-12T12:21:00.001+05:302013-11-12T12:21:44.870+05:30A service opportunity missed?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">Last week, I went to Coonoor to participate in the housewarming ceremony of an affluent friend from Singapore. He had built his house inside the picturesque setting of a tea plantation! You could have tea straight from the plant, if you felt like it! Anyway, let me not digress and stay with the topic on hand which is the permanently intriguing subject of customer service. Before you lose patience, let me get back to the customer service experience that almost knocked my socks off initially, but left me a little disappointed in the end and got me thinking about the entire service opportunity that constantly presents itself to companies. It all started with a phone call to my wife, who was with me, from her boss. Her boss who seemed to be well aware of what was happening at Ooty called to say that Ramraj Textiles, the well-known dhoti and white shirts brand, had just opened a showroom at Ooty and could we please &nbsp;get him two size 42” linen shirts in white? If the boss’ instructions are important then imagine how critical instructions from my boss’ boss are likely to be! So we dropped everything and made our way in the pouring rain to the showroom. Coincidentally my friend, an acknowledged service expert had spoken about how courteous the staff at Ramraj Textiles’ showroom at Coimbatore had been the previous day when he had visited there. We found the showroom without too much difficulty, placed as it was in a prominent location of Ooty. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">The service story<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: small;">As the showroom seemed to have opened that very day, the place was teeming with people as the strength of the brand had prompted a lot of people to come over.&nbsp; Footfalls are what any retailer dreams about and there was no issue here. In fact with two levels, lots of people, loud conversations, cartons being carted around … all of which made me ask one of the assistants why there was such a racket. My wife quickly asked me to shut up and like any dutiful husband, I promptly did. But when we went to the shirt section things changed dramatically. When we asked for four shirts of 42 of linen, (I felt like buying them as well), they sprang into action. They realized that they had only one shirt of that size and asked us for a couple of minutes to check their depot and at other outlets. Even as I was standing in front of the counter, the cashier called outlet after outlet asking for this particular type and size of shirt that we wanted. It was amazing to see someone who belonged to the clerical cadre exceeding the call of duty. All he had to tell me was that the sizes were not available and I would have gone away quietly. But he whetted my appetite by asking me to wait while he called various&nbsp;</span><span style="color: #222222;">neighboring</span><span style="color: #222222; font-size: small;">&nbsp;outlets like Avinashi, Mettupalayam and many others that I can’t recall, finally sourced the shirts at Avinashi and asked someone to put it on the bus and told me that he would pick it up early in the morning and have it delivered. I had already told him that I would be leaving the Ooty Gymkhana where I was staying by 9 a.m. the following morning.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">The damp squib the day after<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">Having whetted my appetite with superior service far beyond my expectations, I waited for the shirts to arrive. 9 o’clock came and went with neither shirts nor even a call from the company. I was a trifle disappointed because the initiative of the previous night at the store had made me hope, unreasonably perhaps. Of course, he had not specifically committed to me as obviously the bus service was beyond his control. But he had my number, could he not have called me and taken my Bangalore address to ship later? As I was driving back to Bangalore there were a number of thoughts that crossed my mind. Is this sort of initiative of calling different depots, checking availability, etc only possible in smaller companies? Is service a function of size? While the junior person showed so much initiative, there was no intervention from the senior person. Do larger companies have better processes and support systems to handle non-routine service needs? Did the company have the capability to deliver in different cities when there was a stock out situation? Is there opportunity for old world companies like these to learn from companies like Flipkart and Jabong that have created new opportunities for themselves by tapping into reliable delivery systems and procedures? Can these companies look at selling online?&nbsp; After all a white shirt is a white shirt and it is possible to sell and buy these fabrics online. Is an opportunity being missed here?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">Mind you, I have a lot of respect and regard for Ramraj Textiles and its shirts. My wardrobe has quite a few shirts from its repertoire. I frequently visit their showroom in some airport or the other and would like the brand to succeed even further and was just a little disappointed that they had promised to deliver something outstanding and then just gave up. I am sure they are not unique in this. I am sure your company and mine is missing opportunities like this every day.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">The question is, are you aware of the missed opportunity?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;"><i><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">Ramanujam Sridhar is Director in Custommerce and the Founder CEO of brand-comm.</span></i><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;">&nbsp;<o:p></o:p></span></div></div>Custommercehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05600466199753291262noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1519933408389139522.post-40220816104465177632013-07-24T09:13:00.000+05:302013-07-24T09:15:26.313+05:30Service Evasion<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">There’s good news and there’s bad news. The good news, which is for consumers, is that there is now an online, private customer redressal system that takes complaints of customers and solves them by escalating it to higher echelons of customer service in a company. All the grieving customer needs to do is to type in their complaint in a text box on the online consumer forum and the complaint is formalized and sent to people who can make a decision in the company (not to the poor customer-service representative whose minimal powers range from “I will try to help you” to “Sorry, I cannot help you in this matter”). The matter is then solved doubly quick, resulting in a happy customer who still curses the poor service from the company but posts an effusive testimonial on the forum website stating the turnaround time of complaint resolution and money saved. If you want to follow the complaint closely or step-by-step, you would have to pay for it, but paltry in comparison with the amounts you would incur if you did it on your own.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Sounds great and it is in fact a boon for consumers. But what does this mean to the organizations who are the actual custodians of the experiences of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">their </i>customers? Isn’t the care of their customers solely their responsibility? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp;</span>The success of such a forum goes to show that companies are seemingly indifferent about customer service. At least when it comes to making sure that a service issue is resolved. They seem to have the first level of redressal in place but are not able to go the extra mile in making sure that the customer gets the required resolution. Frustrated by this lack of commitment to a tangible end, the customer turns to the online redressal forum. It surely doesn’t look good for an organization when its poor service is blatantly highlighted online and someone else credited for resolving a customer problem that they obviously haven’t been able to. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">An organization’s responsibility towards their customers doesn’t end at just creating an ecosystem to sell the product; it also extends to creating a post sales relationship. Today’s service providers are pushing the envelope in terms of reach and network of customers, therefore creating an environment to service those same customers must fall under the same ambit. So can we assume our service providers are giving up? Or are we just looking at a shifting focus from treating customer service as an extension of the product, to just plain and simple resolution? <o:p></o:p></span></div></div>Custommercehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05600466199753291262noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1519933408389139522.post-37068372958599732522013-07-04T19:43:00.000+05:302013-07-04T19:43:33.676+05:30The expectation dry-up?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">We have been mentioning that the moment of truth is the point where a brand is made or broken. This is where either a satisfied customer glorifies the product/service or an unhappy customer dismisses it. We know for a fact that most of the time the customer is left dissatisfied. We lay the onus on the service provider and complain that service levels have to improve – and then there’s lethargy. But then there is the Indian consumer who is so used to poor service that she is almost immune to it! In the comparison between expectation and delivery, we can see that since the expectations are so low, it’s no surprise that delivery levels are so poor.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">This could probably be attributed to years and years of poor service, long queues and red tape that has adversely conditioned the Indian consumer psyche. It is sometimes due to this mindset, that when something out of the ordinary is provided, the Indian customer is overawed. For example, an Indian consumer is easily thrilled when a DTH service provider promises service in 24 hours and it actually happens! But isn't this what the company has always promised? </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">So let’s sum it up. It would seem that as an ecosystem we are already meeting expectations and with the considerably low levels these expectations are surviving at, we are headed towards an era of customer indifference. Or we quite possibly are already there. Practitioners have been talking about great customer service for years now but service providers continue to ignore the calls, yet they preach about the Zappos of the world without ever intending to change a single process internally. Customer indifference could soon lead to a drying up of differentiators or marketing ‘hooks’. We would then go back to a market that differentiates on factors like price and product design that we know are unsustainable. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">Looks like soon, that DTH customer we spoke about is going to become an exception to a rule no one cares for.&nbsp;</div></div>Custommercehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05600466199753291262noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1519933408389139522.post-71079886355842298202012-09-17T17:44:00.000+05:302012-09-17T17:45:01.658+05:30Customer for life?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #3b3a39; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16px;"></span><br /><div class="body" style="margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">This article featured in the Hindu Business Line dated 14th September 2012.</span></div><div class="body" style="margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;">As I have often said, I spent six years of my life counting other people’s cash and writing other people’s fixed deposit receipts. Even after leaving the banking industry, I still talk about it as I am still a customer of one bank or the other.</div><div class="body" style="margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;">Today, I am not merely a customer but someone who perhaps knows a little more about customers than when I was a callow youth in the banking counter hoping for a typhoon or a flood on Saturday morning so that I could leave in time to catch a movie rather than be flooded by customers! One of the first things I have since realised is something called “lifetime value of the customer”, which I knew nothing about or cared even less for in 1973 when I first started working with Grindlays Bank.</div><h3 style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #373535; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 8px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-transform: uppercase;">LIFETIME VALUE</h3><div class="body" style="margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;">This is one of the most frequently quoted phrases that marketing people spout. Very simply, this term denotes the profits an organisation makes from dealing with a customer over a period in time. So, if you are my company’s customer for twenty years (bless you) then the profits we make from servicing you over that period add up to this number and clearly you have tremendous value to me and my organisation. Now I teach management students and they bank with one nationalised bank or the other because of convenience. They rarely ever have money, live hand to mouth and often have difficulty in meeting the minimum balance even. Soon they graduate, get jobs and grow in more ways than one.</div><div class="body" style="margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;">In some time they become “high net-worth” individuals and every international and private sector bank woos my former students actively (and without a second thought, they switch camps and banks). So what has happened here? Here was a customer well within the fold of a nationalised bank and that bank messed up because it really did nothing to retain them.</div><div class="body" style="margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;">Now is this unique only to nationalised banks? I am not sure as it happens too often in my own company. I am sure it may be happening (sadly) in your company as well even if you may not be forthcoming in accepting it as I have been.</div><h3 style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #373535; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 8px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-transform: uppercase;">ACQUISITION OR RETENTION?</h3><div class="body" style="margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;">Let’s understand why this happens. The reason is obvious. Companies are busy acquiring new customers. This is where the rewards and recognition are. Your bosses write to you. Your colleagues envy you and your career invariably moves north. And yet some questions are in order. Are we spending more time looking at new business and clients at the cost of our existing customers? Is our output better for prospects than for existing clients?</div><div class="body" style="margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;">The constant gripe of clients in the advertising business is that their agencies churn out better work in creative pitches than they do for their existing clients and I can vouch for this – that agencies seem to be pumped about pitches but seem flat when it comes to ‘demanding’ current clients. I do hope that this is not the situation in your company.</div><div class="body" style="margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;">It is worthwhile to remember that it is a lot more profitable to hold on to existing clients than spending on attempts at new business acquisition. This is not to diminish the value and importance of new business acquisition as growth is what we are looking for.</div><div class="body" style="margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;">The smarter companies ensure they don’t jeopardise the service offered to their existing clients when they prospect for new clients. They have teams in charge of acquisition without depleting the resources on servicing existing clients.</div><h3 style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #373535; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 8px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-transform: uppercase;">PROMISING MORE THAN WE DELIVER?</h3><div class="body" style="margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;">Let me end by coming back to the banking sector. I have every international or new generation bank wooing me because they are under the mistaken notion that I am a high net-worth individual. They mail me, call me, message me and meet me frequently. If I were a girl that a guy was wooing with the same energy, I would have succumbed long ago. And yet when I do give them the business I find that this energy is no longer in evidence in servicing my business.</div><div class="body" style="margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;">My constant refrain is that my Relationship Manager does not even last for a quarter on the average. So much so that if a new Relationship Manager asks to meet me, I invariably tell him to come three months later if he is still with the bank! Clearly there is a gap between what is promised and what is being delivered.</div><div class="body" style="margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;">In fact the Relationship Manager is the brand to me and he is the one who lets it down, in my view at least. And in my view, despite all the hype surrounding the foreign and private sector banks, my good old nationalised bank is vastly better. It knows me and will somehow reach me when either of us needs to.</div><h3 style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #373535; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 8px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-transform: uppercase;">KEEP IT SIMPLE</h3><div class="body" style="margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;">So what are we saying at the end of all this.</div><div class="body" style="margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><b style="outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;">Customer acquisition</b>&nbsp;is important. But in quest of this elusive Holy Grail, are we jeopardising our existing relationships?</div><div class="body" style="margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><b style="outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;">Are we promising</b>&nbsp;and trying to be more alluring in the courtship phase? After marriage, we suddenly realise that the person we married is a different animal from the one who courted us.</div><div class="body" style="margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><b style="outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;">It boils down</b>&nbsp;to treating our customer as an individual who matters, like the manager of my nationalised bank does.</div><div class="body" style="margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><b style="outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;">Customer service</b>&nbsp;is not easy. But the gains are phenomenal, if you hang in there. It is not easy to hold on to existing customers for years. But when you do the rewards are phenomenal.</div><div class="body" style="margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><b style="outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;">Are you gearing</b>&nbsp;up to reap the benefits?</div><div class="body" style="margin-bottom: 20px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;"><i style="outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial;">Ramanujam Sridhar is Director of Custommerce and Founder CEO of brand-comm, a communications consulting company.<a href="mailto:http://www.ramanujamsridhar.com" style="color: #1f57a5; outline-color: initial; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; text-decoration: none;">http://www.ramanujamsridhar.com</a></i></div></div>Custommercehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05600466199753291262noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1519933408389139522.post-35024144000686829142012-08-22T19:22:00.000+05:302012-08-22T19:22:16.687+05:30Customer aspiration based service design<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /><div class="MsoNormal">When Henry Ford was asked if customers’ desires had anything to do with his path breaking Ford Model T, he had this to say, “If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.” Understanding that latent needs of a customer, which strongly revolves around a deep seated aspiration, can sometimes be the key to a product innovation, it can also be the building block of your organization’s service design.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">When a customer walks into a BMW showroom, there are certain aspirations that are attached with a decision to walk in there. From the moment she walks in, she needs to see those aspirations getting fulfilled. Right from the first greeting, to the first question on what she wants. There can’t be questions of budgets and mileage. The questions need to come from the customer and possibly you will see an aspiration being realized. Creating a service design around this understanding of a customer, needs to be all pervasive from the way the salesmen deal with her, to the way billing and post sales is handled. The aspiration remains and possibly grows along with the ownership of the product. These aspirations are not attached only to luxury brands. Even mid market brands evoke aspiration among customers who may find such brands the pinnacle of their current stature and success. Working around these thoughts becomes a challenge as they are not that straightforward, yet, they do exist and discovering them lies in observing customer behavior. Customers tend to ask certain questions, get irked by some objections and are satisfied with specific features. In all these observations, lie the answers to what your customer is aspiring to become. Use those data points to build your service roadmap and watch customers enjoy the treatment in the way their purchasing behavior changes. Therein lies your organization’s reward for going that extra mile.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Customer aspiration has always driven many innovations, from a bulb to a Tata Nano. It wasn’t rocket science that built these products. They all were conceived by men and women who belonged to completely different aspiration levels. Breaking through the clutter of customer data and models, lies the simple art of deduction, of what your customer aspires to be, once she has used your brand. Let’s get started harnessing that power!<o:p></o:p></div></div>Custommercehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05600466199753291262noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1519933408389139522.post-89265481424120038592012-07-05T17:48:00.000+05:302012-07-05T17:48:23.648+05:30Getting Social on Social Media<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /><div class="MsoNormal">Social media still manages to be a buzz word. Most of the business world was of the belief that the value of social media in business will soon reach its saturation point. But it continues to surprise businesses both small and big in the way one can approach customers, marketing and customer service. Now grasping the above ideas isn’t that difficult. Also, knowing that you need to be on social media isn’t going to win you any brownie points from your customers. But not being smart and maximizing your ability to give your customers great customer service on social media, can be an opportunity lost.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Studies say that customers who engage with companies via social media spend 20 to 40 percent more money with those companies than customers who don’t engage through social media. This should give companies enough impetus to provide great customer service on social media. The problem many see with social media is that neither is it face to face and nor are you talking to anyone on the phone. It’s a faceless conversation but social media has proven to be a great outlet for customers. People tend to interact more openly and freely online. This stemming from a certain anonymity coupled with a huge audience ready to listen and react. Customers expect companies to be more proactive on social media and this presents companies with a great opportunity to reach out and take action before the customer decides to. Being active by tweeting or replying to queries on your company’s Facebook wall instantly can be a great turn on for customers. It shows that you care and you are there. You can instantly put customers at ease as social media by nature is an informal environment. You can reach out to them faster by openly asking your customer base if they have any problems and then attack each issue head on. It’s not enough to be posting views on your brand and its marketing efforts; you also need to be able to reach out on issues that matter to a customer. And that is something you cannot do as easily from a physical outlet or through you call center. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Social media allows you to socialize with your customer. Chat them up, understand them and react. Being available on social media to address concerns makes you static and boring. It doesn’t help your brand point out any difference between your other customer service channels. Customers expect to be treated a certain way on social media and the foundation lies in the fact, that you got to reach out to them, talk their lingo and solve their problems just as you would do elsewhere. That is when the brownie points will start piling up like never before.</div></div>Custommercehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05600466199753291262noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1519933408389139522.post-54976918271883051732012-06-20T20:46:00.000+05:302012-06-20T20:46:09.751+05:30Big lessons that small companies teach<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /><div class="MsoNormal">From Nordstrom (a Custommerce blog favorite) to Southwest to Taj, all are brands synonymous with great customer service. Yet these and only a handful of other large corporations seem to be known for their service ethic. But at the same time, you see many small and medium sized companies consistently getting their customer service ethos firmly in place. Many may attribute that to lesser customers or negligible hierarchy but like this article in HBR will tell you, it sometimes just comes down to <a href="http://blogs.hbr.org/tjan/2009/09/why-small-companies-are-better.html">empathy and common sense</a>. So where else does the secret to good customer service lie in a medium sized enterprise? And what virtues of these companies can larger enterprises look to replicate?</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">A large hotel in Chennai is known to give its employees Rs.1000 everyday as a limit which they can use to repair any reasons of dissatisfaction with a customer. They can use that money on one customer or ration it through the day but it gives them the liberty to improve an experience. This can involve a complimentary drink, snack or anything that the restaurant offers. The limit ensures prudence yet at the same time it allows flexibility. Now, flexibility is an important lesson that most large companies can take from smaller companies like this hotel did. Small and medium enterprises generally have the advantage of flexibility in the way they can serve their customers. They can tailor their customer service efforts as per the customer requirement. Even larger companies can work past Standard Operating Procedures and bring in some flexibility to allow for a better service experience for customers. Another great virtue which large companies can pick from smaller enterprises is of having a top management which prefers a hands-on-approach. Customers of smaller enterprise are able to reach top management with their grievances much faster then they can reach a middle manager at a large enterprise. With certain protocols in place and by basing cases on priority, even a large enterprise can achieve this objective.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">On the whole large companies need to see how they can bring in initiatives from smaller companies in moderation backed by strong business cases. They can serve customers much better by steering away from rigidity towards incorporating techniques that can improve the service experience. The lessons small companies are giving aren’t very tough to understand or implement. You just need to use common sense to know how much to commit, and remember, that all your customers need, is a little empathy.&nbsp;</div></div>Custommercehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05600466199753291262noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1519933408389139522.post-14742726953755580242012-06-01T17:04:00.000+05:302012-06-01T17:04:26.193+05:30Customer service can save the day<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /><div class="MsoNormal">Countries across Europe and Asia are reeling from the effects of a recession that had its roots in the US. Companies in these countries will instantly start looking at the various options available to them to manage the crisis. Options like layoffs, broad based pricing to target more customers and many more value draining methods come to the fore. What generally begins to suffer is always, customer service. But can, a recession, be the most auspicious moment to improve your customer service?</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Southwest Airlines, Lexus and the Ritz Carlton are brands known to keep their customer service promise at the forefront even at the dullest of economic conditions. Brands must understand the value of upping their customer service game during the downturn as customers become more sensitive to prices and the way their service provider treats them. Customer morale is at its greatest low at this point. Investing in systems, processes or ideas <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp;</span>that can help build this morale can serve you well not only during the downturn but also post it, as customers will never forget the brand who showered them with the love they needed. We are moving into a time where customers are expecting soft brands. Brands that are more communicative, responsive and ready to speak. Research over the years has always proven that brands who commit resources to customer service during a downturn or who have always considered it a priority, come out of a recession stronger and with a loyal base of customers with negligible erosion over the years.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Learning lessons from companies who are focusing on customer service can be pivotal in dealing with a downturn. It can give many brands an edge over their competitors and create an advantage that in time will become sustainable, recession or not. A recession is the one time in the story of a brand that can help them concentrate on customer service, make it invincible to competitors and lovable to customers. So let’s start planning and acting, now!&nbsp;</div></div>Custommercehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05600466199753291262noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1519933408389139522.post-88010041212238255112012-05-21T16:17:00.000+05:302012-05-21T16:26:27.690+05:30Knowledge ‘works’<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">Many service providers especially telecom players seem to have the fantastic ability to drown customers with offers that they will never use or have a record of declining. These very service providers are the ones who also have reams of data about their customers, data most of us would think should help them make the right offer to us. But we are often faced by the same static messaging which has ruined many an experience of our service provider for us. The problem does not lie with the amount of data they have, it also isn’t the fault of the lack of desire to give the customer a good deal. It all seems to lie in the much hidden and embarrassing fact that a lot of our service providers do have a lot of data but very little knowledge.<br /><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Companies have many storage hubs today. The Contact Center, Point of Sales, customer feedback and many more depending on the company and the various customer programs they have in place. The amount of data available here will be enough to piece together a decent customer outreach strategy. Yet service providers in most cases such as one of our friendly neighborhood telecom providers make the fundamental mistake of not making these hubs speak to each other. Due to this a lot of customer data gets lost in translation as its not being mined to get the relevant data points which can be used to market the right offers to the customers or at least – close to the right one. The key, one should believe lies in converting this data to knowledge which should be shared across relevant departments. A customer complaint may be voiced over a simple transaction related call into the Contact Center, but is that being sent over to the guys at Customer Service? A customer refuses an offer for an upgrade on her current calling plan at an authorized center. Is that then transferred to the Contact Center so that the customer is not pestered about it again? </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">The opportunities to use customer data are many and can prove to be both profitable for the company and improve customer service. Service providers will be more focused and relevant in their approach to the customer which only involves a better use of resources already available to them. Getting over the embarrassment of having customers come down upon the service provider with all their fury for every unnecessary offer made to the customer can be very easily avoided. And what better then turning that embarrassment into a meaningful opportunity for both? &nbsp;</div></div>Custommercehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05600466199753291262noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1519933408389139522.post-39180365294483367592012-04-20T18:03:00.000+05:302012-04-20T18:06:14.746+05:30The Curious Case of the Online Whinger<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /><div class="MsoNormal">The social media has turned us all into a commentator, a critic, a passionate advocate of the good, the bad and the ugly. Customers today, are just scaring the living daylights out of companies. Not sure when they are going to strike, companies cannot choose to be Frankenstein and allow the hoards to overcome them. Complaining and letting the world know what went wrong with your service provider has become a matter of duty today. And in this environment, culling out the complaint from the tantrum creates a unique dilemma, the kind of dilemma you cannot choose to ignore.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Social media forums like Facebook, Twitter and review forums have enabled crowds to converge upon a brand and rip it apart or give it a new lease of life. In an age where response and monitoring mechanisms are evolving constantly, brands do not have a choice but act in the now. Real time. Sifting the tantrums from genuine complaints becomes imperative because even with the vast tools at a company’s disposal, they still cannot possibly address every concern. Attacking the genuine ones with decisiveness and tact, and dealing with tantrums with kid gloves becomes key. Failing which, social media could very easily become a resource draining platform in more ways than one.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Over 1000 complaints turn up every hour across online public forums and social media sites. Right from service delivery to a service executive’s behavior is weighed up and attacked today. The customer is completely justified in venting, but an unresponsive company is not justified in being aloof. Companies need to take this opportunity they have been given by their customers to start owning a forum that has in more ways than one, been created by them. Ignore at your own peril.</div></div>Custommercehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05600466199753291262noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1519933408389139522.post-21971751031897457842012-04-05T17:10:00.000+05:302012-04-05T17:10:50.809+05:30The Customer SPOC<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /><div class="MsoNormal">Companies today profess their love for customer service with gusto unlike anything before. They stand under the metaphorical balconies of customers proclaiming their devotion to them and how they would always stand by them in their times of trouble. The U-turn after that though, is again something customers like many broken lovers have come to expect. Customers and companies enter a marriage the moment a customer decides to pick your product off the shelf instead of another. So why don’t companies really get serious about this? Why don’t they show some unwavering commitment? Why don’t they just get themselves a Chief Customer Officer?</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">The role exists in B2B and B2C firms as diverse as Allstate, Dunkin' Brands, USAA, Philips Electronics, FedEx, the Cleveland Clinic, and SAP. All companies greatly committed to delivering good service. So why&nbsp;hasn't&nbsp;this concept found its way into more management teams across companies? The reasons are many and diverse. Ranging from not finding the right people to not enabling them with adequate power to affect change to not being easily accessible to customers. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp;</span>Companies serious about customer service can use such a person in management to help outline a strategy right from the top which will in turn tie in with the company objectives. Commitment to customer service needs to start from the top, quite literally. The top management must be ready to be decisive when it comes to executing their customer service strategy and adding a CCO to that mix and at that level of decision making can be the greatest show of faith.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">CCOs can be the next coup de grace in a market dominated by lofty promises and earth shattering failures in service. A CCO should ensure accessibility and accountability for customers. She should be the point of escalation when things go out of hand. Communication lines to her should be available to every customer and her openness and accessibility in time will define the commitment the company has towards customer service. The knowledge that she belongs to the management will further help in instilling faith in customers that they truly have access to the decision makers. This is the kind of faith that makes a brand, the kind that promises to stand by their customer in sickness and health.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div></div>Custommercehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05600466199753291262noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1519933408389139522.post-88496383758216293422012-03-15T17:13:00.000+05:302012-03-15T17:13:15.734+05:30The Customer Service Loudspeaker<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /><div class="MsoNormal">So you are heading up the marketing division of a company. You wake up one day with a dilemma. How do I change my company’s brand positioning and marketing direction to acquire new and retain existing customers? You get out of bed and instantly are struck with the idea of taking that new shiny product of your engineering team and shouting out from rooftops about it. Over breakfast and some burnt toast you remember that nothing speaks better marketing than talking about a fall in prices. That just has to get them hooked. But, as you start your car’s ignition and turn <span>into</span>traffic crawling at a snail’s pace you decide that talking about your company’s heritage and wide customer base should do the trick. Convinced, you finally walk into your office building to be greeted by your office receptionist. Suddenly, her smile reminds you of your impeccable customer service which has been getting you many compliments and mails from satisfied customers praising a service tradition that seems unparalleled in the industry. Now you begin to wonder, is customer service really marketable?</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Companies have begun to market their customer service much more today. Companies base entire marketing campaigns around this one facet of their service delivery. But, unfortunately many of those companies barely have processes in place to hand out good customer service. Millions are spent in creating the campaigns and a smattering of that is spent in living up to that promise. But there are companies who knowingly or unknowingly have put in place a very efficient and effective customer service strategy. Restricting the impact of this only to existing customers can be an opportunity missed. Communicating this to prospective customers and existing ones can be your new marketing direction. Consistently good customer service, after all is not easy to deliver and when you are, why not make a noise about it?</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">So as you wind up for the day and are wrapping up that presentation for ideas you want to take to your management, remember that talking about your customer service can be that differentiator lying in your organization waiting to be shared with your prospects and customers. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp;</span>It can surely help you re energize your customer acquisition strategy and importantly help you sleep at night, comfortable with the thought that you have a solid marketing plan in hand.</div></div>Custommercehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05600466199753291262noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1519933408389139522.post-39580609608535453732012-03-08T16:57:00.000+05:302012-03-08T16:57:13.088+05:30Making the non routine, possible!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /><div class="MsoNormal">What puts Zappos and Nordstrom on a completely different orbit when it comes to customer service? Besides an unbelievable ability to understand their customer, it also is their knack to handle the non routine. A non routine query from a customer can be best defined as a request from a customer asking a service provider to go beyond laid down offerings and processes. This is where most brands get a shot at instant immortality in the minds of the consumer. And companies who do this with great aplomb are the ones who have a plan. A plan that may involve limitless employee empowerment or well distributed resources.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>So even though we know, that fulfilling these queries can create customer satisfaction like never before, companies need to ask themselves this; how tenable is developing a strategy for handling a non routine query?</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">While planning such a strategy companies need to look at the financial burden that they might be taking on. Completing a non routine query can involve a cost which your business could not have accounted for. Preparing for these costs make it a tricky financial proposition. This leads us straight into another quandary a company faces; how do you empower your employee to handle these queries? Drawing the line for how much discretion you can trust your employee with is never easy. It involves a great amount of training and also smart recruiting. Employees have to buy into your brand philosophy or be trained to execute it to perfection. When you are past the monetary and employee capability conundrums, you will have to ask yourself if you can truly sustain such an effort. Changing track midway and not delivering on such queries can lead to a loss of goodwill as customers will immediately sense something is out of place. From that point on, getting back in the good books of the customer may take a greater effort.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">So to sum it up, the three key requisites are: financial ability, employee empowerment and sustainability. These are by no stretch of imagination, the only questions you need to ask. A lot of it comes down to top management will and operational nous. The results are there for all to see, the commitment is what you need to ensure. So are you ready to become a Zappos or a Nordstrom? Now that, is not a non routine query! <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp;</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp;</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div></div>Custommercehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05600466199753291262noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1519933408389139522.post-27084385066599398872012-02-23T12:37:00.000+05:302012-02-23T12:37:12.456+05:30Loyalty, Advocacy and Beyond!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /><div class="MsoNormal">Companies today talk of how customer advocacy is key to the growth of their brand. Loyalty programs are expected to retain customers and push them to advocate their brand to new or undecided customers. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp;</span>Stopping at this can be enough for most brands but not pushing for something beyond that can be a missed opportunity. Your most loyal customers, quite possibly know your brand and services much better than most employees in your organization. Using this priceless knowledge and mining it to its best can become a game changer for you. The idea that immediately emanates from this is to bring your customer in as an advisor. Use her to help you know your brand from her perspective and give you ideas as to how processes can be improved and customer service in turn, made more efficient.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Restaurants have been known to ask customers for opinions on new dishes being introduced. The risk of asking certain loyal customers for their opinions can lead to skewed feedback which cannot always be translated back into the business. But when a restaurant takes that risk of introducing that dish on its menu with the feedback from its closest customers, it’s not only a tremendous show of faith, it also is a statement of how valuable loyal customers are to them. Companies may not find such a program easy to execute primarily because executing all that these customers ask for, may not be tenable. But even telling them why it’s not possible is a grand gesture in taking the relationship further. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">So ask yourselves if you can execute such a program. Ask yourselves what will stand in the way and if the problems seem difficult, think of the value of a small army of your most loyal customers backing your every move. That should be enough reason to get you started. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div></div>Custommercehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05600466199753291262noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1519933408389139522.post-30973874000031423012012-02-17T17:19:00.000+05:302012-02-17T17:19:20.086+05:30God of small things?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /><div class="MsoNormal">A brand’s greatest service challenge may actually manifest itself before your customer even walks into your store. A million factors can contribute to changing a customer’s mind from wanting to enter your service environment. This can range from a perennial long queue to a badly located store. The impact of these factors on designing your service strategy is critical. In the process we create an acute condition called ‘unsatisfied demand’ wherein we lose a customer’s business before him ever getting fully introduced to it. So how can the scourge of unsatisfied demand be sorted out with a well crafted service design?</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">But before you start drilling down to find an answer, you need to understand the kind of incidents and severity of them which are causing the aforementioned, unsatisfied demand. Incidents that will talk about how customers have turned their backs on long queues and in the process a brand. Walking into an ATM with the air conditioning turned to minus 20 and receipts strewn across the floor can leave one scarred about the brand, quite literally. Your day can go quite pear shaped when you spend an hour looking for parking outside that new restaurant while your stomach goes on a disobedience movement, demanding justice and some food. A badly lit coffee shop which is neither romantic or understated but just plain cheap, makes that immense need for a coffee disappear and attraction towards a brand too. The examples are countless yet are so simple and avoidable. These are just the few details brands forget to include in their service design which lead to a very forgettable experience for a ‘could be’ first time customer.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Taking stock of this and then acting upon these situations is not as easy as it seems. Customers can get turned off by very different things and identifying them and tackling them can be the game changer with today’s unpredictable customer. Companies need to ask themselves a couple of questions to get them started down this road. When I walk into my company’s store, is there anything that inhibits my interest to enter? How can I make that first visit as comfortable as possible for my customer? In the answers to these questions, quite possibly lies the key to never losing a customer even before you get to show them what you got.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp;&nbsp;</span></div></div>Custommercehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05600466199753291262noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1519933408389139522.post-23379297279944788162012-02-10T17:19:00.003+05:302012-02-10T17:20:42.772+05:30Blueprinting the Service Design<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /><div class="MsoNormal">When we experience exceptional service, we are instantly taken by the person who delivers it and give some amount of credit to the company. We talk about it to friends and family at tea parties and tell them how a certain guy changed our day with some great service. We talk about it at every opportunity and gradually the story becomes the story of the heroics of one service representative. In the process we often forget to give enough credit to the company who set the right conditions for such an act to be performed. You might just have overlooked a very well planned service design which is in play to provide you that memorable service. So let’s explore this idea a little further.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Southwest Airlines is miles ahead when it comes to a well planned service design. They have manuals and instructions for every action that seems so unique and memorable to you. Southwest has designed things in such a manner including their training formats that allows any newcomer to embed themselves in the Southwest service culture. At no point does a well detailed design take away from employing the right kind of people. But identifying the right set of people in a market where they are in incredible demand makes for a challenge of a very different kind. Building a service design that allows an employee to adapt and deliver can be the key to providing that elusive customer satisfaction your brand is expected to deliver.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">A couple of questions you might want to ask yourself as companies are: Do you already have a design in place which is not adequately defined? Do your employees fully understand it and is it being audited from time to time? Are there any loopholes in your design which allows employees to under deliver? Does your service design need a revamp to manage your brand’s current expectations? A plethora of questions, but ones that need pointed answers. Answers that can help you design that memorable service experience that your customer would talk about at that next tea party. &nbsp;</div></div>Custommercehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05600466199753291262noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1519933408389139522.post-15795426047919109372012-02-03T12:49:00.000+05:302012-02-03T12:50:23.717+05:30Standardized Personalization?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /><div class="MsoNormal">In a time when customers have become all powerful, finding a way to please them all individually has become a gargantuan task. Customers know that in today’s networked, ‘Facebook before breakfast’ world they have the option to take companies to task at their discretion. At the same time, they have become extremely choosy about every element of the product. Customization can be blamed and so can companies’ need to impress and retain customers. But the end result is a customer who is exposed to many choices, wants more and wants it now, leaving companies with a very difficult question; ‘How do we build a customer service strategy that is personalized yet standardized and effective?’</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Marketers on a daily basis deal with reams of customer intelligence telling them what homogenous sets of customers want from their product and base decisions on this research and deliver a product which is largely accepted. As long as the product satisfies a majority, they have a hit. But customer service is a wholly different ball game. Where a freebie may work for one customer, a cashback and a lifetime supply of the product may still lose you a customer. Standardization of customer service in such an environment is no more an option.&nbsp;</div><div class="MsoNormal">Delivering experiences which resonate with a customer’s behavior, needs and desires has become paramount.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />The need to come up with personalized strategies for all your customers may be an uphill task but at the same time generalizing can be suicidal. So the questions companies need to ask themselves are: Where can your service strategy differ? At what stage in the sales cycle can you affect the change? How do you find smaller sets of similar customers to whom personalized service can be standardized? Where does it all begin? Marketers need to start looking at customers from a very different lens then they used to before, because customers are no more a set of people with similar needs and rights. They are now deciding before you react and demanding before you produce.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">So how are you going to deliver a one to one strategy?&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div></div>Custommercehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05600466199753291262noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1519933408389139522.post-60596979351551941112012-01-10T17:29:00.001+05:302012-01-10T17:29:13.894+05:3080/20 Service Myopia<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /><div class="MsoNormal">Many companies today follow the timeless Pareto Analysis where they believe that 80% of their business comes from 20% of their customers. On the basis of this, companies have become myopic in the way they hand out service to their customers. By providing differential service to their profitable customers they are possibly creating a very dangerous divide. There is no doubt that treating profitable customers differently in terms of incentives makes sense. Loyal customers have to feel the warmth in return. But customer service should be inclusive and doled out with the same consistency to every customer. At the end of the day, customer service is not only a hygiene factor for a business but also a promise made to a customer.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Organisations need to start showing courage in not distinguishing their customers when it comes to service. The condition has become endemic because companies are refusing to see the long term ills of such a move. Bad customer service across industries is the reason for customer migration. The telecom industry, for example, has made Bedouins of normal customers with their appalling customer service tactics. Often frustrating, often numbing, we have reached a point where customers have purely given up on the idea of good customer service. In an environment such as this, to have customers know that they are being treated differently can lead to nothing short of disillusionment. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Many companies especially some in the hospitality industry are very good at providing indiscriminate customer service. If a customer walks through their doors for the first time or the tenth, the service remains a constant because the true potential cannot always be realized in the first few instances. Over and above, a customer’s potential can be increased in time by providing consistently exceptional service. However, a brand that is truly in the business of customer service would never let such a situation ever arise. Don’t forget that as a company you have no clue what the potential of a customer is after his first few interaction with you. Differential customer service on the other hand on the basis of profitability, or a lack of it, can assure you that you will never see the full potential of that customer. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">This is what we think, what do you think?</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div></div>Custommercehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05600466199753291262noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1519933408389139522.post-82899554876341099272011-12-28T17:35:00.001+05:302011-12-28T17:35:51.349+05:30Vendor Stakeholder<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /><div class="MsoNormal">Nearly every company in the world pumps in millions of dollars into serving their customers better and even further millions to repair the wrongs committed on them. But very few seem to have the same attitude towards their vendors. So when a company has one strategy to bring in customers and a completely counter-productive strategy towards its vendors, the question really is – <b>Who is winning?</b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Companies take great effort in understanding the needs of a customer, learn to talk their language and help deliver a product which in turn will bring them revenues. Why can’t they do the same for a vendor too? After all a vendor also helps in bringing in revenues. In fact better relations with a vendor can <span class="apple-style-span"><span style="background: white; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 9.0pt;">result in more leads, better support, greater engagement, protection in key accounts, and recognition that can help a company generate more business.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="background: white; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 9.0pt;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="background: white; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 9.0pt;">Consequently companies should look at ways and means of building strategies to maintain relationships with vendors as they would with customers. A simple strategy would be to just replicate your customer sales cycle with your vendors and in the process make your vendor, a stakeholder.</span></span><span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"> </span><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Such a strategy can only help forge a relationship of mutual benefit that in turn can be routed back to a customer in terms of price, product features and overall service. </span><span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">And in the process, everyone wins!</span></b><b><span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div></div>Custommercehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05600466199753291262noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1519933408389139522.post-78046647726997350252011-12-15T16:41:00.000+05:302011-12-15T16:41:55.808+05:30Creating a First Day Experience<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /><div class="MsoNormal">Chris Brogan, a prolific blogger on the use of new media in marketing indulges us with a very interesting thought. A customer experience idea that seems to have evaded most of us. In his own words:</div><div class="MsoNormal"><i><br /></i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i>‘How often do we build experiences such that we’re welcoming of new people? Do we work enough on that? Do we help people get connected and involved? Do we make them feel like we realize it’s their first time and we’re here to guide them?’</i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Through this he introduces us to the idea of creating a ‘first day experience’ for new customers. New customers join a company somewhere in between the evolution of a company. Customers need to be invited on board with a story that helps them understand the company and feel a part of it at the same time.&nbsp;</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />Even though Brogan talks of this idea in an online context (Read more here: <a href="http://www.chrisbrogan.com/firstday/">Every Day is Someone’s First Day</a>) the power of this idea can truly be tested if it can be replicated in a brick and mortar situation. New customers walk into a store everyday and identifying them no doubt is an improbable task. But if retail stores can find a method to the madness it can create loyalty and in an increasingly congested market, differentiation.&nbsp;</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Stores can explore ideas of putting up the story of their birth, pictures of how the store evolved or even have a ‘First Day’ officer who can help customers with a few additional services. Stores need to figure out what lengths they can go to and the bandwidth available to them. But an endeavor in this direction can be invaluable.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />So how would you create a First Day experience for your customers?&nbsp;</div></div>Custommercehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05600466199753291262noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1519933408389139522.post-68887435791796266162011-12-07T17:35:00.001+05:302011-12-09T11:08:57.814+05:30Signing On<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /><div class="MsoNormal">A company’s signature experience is what it does especially well. It’s the odd or unique process that makes your company stand out in people's minds (<b>&nbsp;(</b><a href="http://hbr.org/product/what-is-your-company-s-signature-experience/an/U0707C-PDF-ENG?Ntt=customer%2520experience%2520articles"><span style="color: windowtext;">Read this HBR article</span></a>). Most companies, in time, always end up providing a signature experience. They may either not know about it or may know and use them as foundation to their positioning. Either way it’s something that needs to be harnessed because in that special moment of delivering something different may lie the key to attracting and retaining customers.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Companies need to search their organization and look across their customer delivery structure at possible signatures they are leaving on their customers. If companies can pick three such experiences and package them and sell it consistently, they may have a winner on their hands. Linking these experiences to its brand can help reinforce their brand image. For example it will give more tangibles to customers to associate with the brand promise.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Most successful brands have distinct signature experiences that they leave behind in a customer’s mind; it is these experiences that are spoken about to other customers. Bringing together these voices under the banner of your brand as a signature experience could be your next brand building move.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Tell us about some signature experiences you have come across with the companies you interact with.</div></div>Custommercehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05600466199753291262noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1519933408389139522.post-73218908105908679472011-12-02T17:48:00.001+05:302011-12-05T09:59:34.047+05:30With great power comes great responsibility<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /><div class="MsoNormal">A good day in the office for most of us involves meeting targets, cracking that tough code or just making sure your boss is happy. But what if your job description involves bringing a smile on a customer’s face?</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Imagine walking into your favorite breakfast place in the morning and encountering a smiling staff who responds to your requests, proactively helps you and gives you top class service. On occasions such as these even the quality of the food can be overlooked to an extent. This can set the mood for the rest of your day. At the same time, I’m sure you can imagine the opposite. Not a pretty picture at all, therefore I shall not paint it.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Customer Service representatives need to realise that they have great power in their hands to lighten up a customer’s day (<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6M0TgEUbRBc">As seen in this video</a>) &nbsp;By doing this they can ensure loyalty to not just a tangible i.e. the product but also an intangible which is the service. Companies need to understand how strong a differentiator this can be and devise ways and means of getting their employees involved.</div><div class="MsoNormal">How can companies help set the tone for the day for a customer?</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div></div>Custommercehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05600466199753291262noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1519933408389139522.post-41254929265104264792011-11-25T17:26:00.001+05:302011-11-25T18:04:05.039+05:30Take the 'easy route'<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span class="apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; font-size: 32px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 36px;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #585556; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Matt Dixon and Lauren Pragoff in their HBR article ‘</span></span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Call Center Confidential: The Underbelly of Customer Centricity’ remind us of the following 3 statements you always hear when you call into a Contact Center</span></span><br /><h1 style="background: white; line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 3.75pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"> <span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 115%;"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></span></h1><div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 7.5pt;"><b>Excerpt <o:p></o:p></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 7.5pt; margin-left: 11.25pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">·<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></span>"<i>This call is being recorded for quality and training purposes"</i>&nbsp;<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 7.5pt; margin-left: 11.25pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">·<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></span>"<i>Is there anything else I can help you with today?"</i><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 7.5pt; margin-left: 11.25pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">·<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span></span>"<i>How satisfied are you with the service you received today?"</i><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 11.25pt;"><b>When you hear them, these phrases are good warning signs that you're dealing with an organization more focused on internal priorities than on what customers actually care about.</b><b>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;</b><br /><b>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;</b>&nbsp;</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 11.25pt;">The true problem here is that these questions help in determining certain metrics which are religiously churned up but never converted into anything concrete. &nbsp;Companies concentrate way too much on numbers which are really internal measures and not looking at specific customer needs which begs the question – ‘Are you reducing effort and making interactions easy for your customer?’<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 11.25pt;">Companies obsess over metrics such as post call CSATs, quality assurance ratings and call closure. They have people working on just improving these stats but rarely is anyone working on making that conversation, which generates these stats, easier for the customer. Efforts need to start shifting to reducing customer effort. A customer should admire a company for quick response and resolution time as it is surely, what they want. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">There is an urgent need for top management to start looking at metrics that indicate ‘ease of use’, ‘lack of effort’ and the like. They need to realize that customer centricity can be about metrics such as reducing customer effort and that driving these numbers up can also considerably improve service delivery.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></div><div class="MsoPlainText" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">So can customer service leaders begin to usher in an era where ‘Ease of Use’ becomes the defining metric?</span></span></div></div>Custommercehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05600466199753291262noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1519933408389139522.post-86125921659711617132011-11-14T17:39:00.001+05:302011-11-14T17:45:16.873+05:30Oshawa's Customer Service Strategy<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /><div class="MsoNormal">We as consumers are tuned to demand good customer service from product vendors we deal with. Yet never seem to expect the same from our government and municipal bodies. We resign with an attitude that ‘this can never change’. This sentiment holds true across the world. We always seem to expect a lower standard from our government bodies. When we go to pay our utilities bill or enquire or complain, the response is far from satisfactory. Generally, having several contact points or multiple locations offering government service may cause a barrier to efficient service delivery for citizens.&nbsp; As a result, service delivery strategies that worked in the past need to evolve to reflect changes in attitudes and expectations of customers. So why aren’t we demanding better service? And more importantly are our elected bodies looking for solutions?</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />The city of Oshawa in Canada is an exemplary example of a city that made customer service a priority. The city hired RBosch Consulting to execute this impressive plan. A study was initiated through interviews with the Mayor, city councilors and a Working Committee instituted for this purpose. Using data from these interviews, RBosch designed a set of guiding principles which define Oshawa’s customer service. They identified opportunities for service improvements and finally delivered a roadmap for them. Goals were drawn up which would be assessed time to time and a plan for a Contact Center implementation was also put into place to enable a centralized service delivery mechanism.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />Many elements came together for the city of Oshawa to get it right. The critical success factors for this ambitious project were:</div><ul style="margin-top: 0in;" type="disc"><li class="MsoNormal">Senior Management and Political Support</li><li class="MsoNormal">Adequate Resources</li><li class="MsoNormal">Staff Buy in and Communication</li><li class="MsoNormal">Clear Vision</li><li class="MsoNormal">Enabling Technology</li></ul><div class="MsoNormal">The above points are important for any customer service strategy implementation irrespective of the scale and scope of the project. This initiative by the city of Oshawa isn’t unique because it is a city municipal body realizing the importance of good customer service, it is because when expectations are low on that parameter, they still went ahead and executed a strategy that can only improve customer satisfaction and goodwill in the long run. That is true vision, something many service and product vendors need to learn.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">So why is customer service not as important a priority for companies jostling for market share and mind share today?</div></div>Custommercehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05600466199753291262noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1519933408389139522.post-17978585603194302512011-10-10T12:10:00.000+05:302011-11-14T17:45:45.526+05:30Making your Brand All Pervasive<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">In the HBR article by <a href="http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2009/04/six_ways_to_build_your_brand_t.html">Anand Subramaniam</a>, ‘Six Ways to Build Your Brand Through Customer Service’ highlights the manner in which companies seem to forget brand building, as an exercise, at the customer service level. Building on this thought, he further outlines steps which can be taken by companies and the next ten minutes of reading shall, hopefully, take this thought to its fruition.<br /><div class="MsoNormal"><br />Expensive advertising, flashy brand ambassadors, thousands of minutes of prime time television space and ‘shout at the top of your voices’ ambient campaigns seem to be the only way companies believe a brand can be built. They cannot be blamed for this view as it as an approach that has worked effectively but only in the short term. Companies do not realize that the only significant outcome of the above measures is creating excitement and not necessarily building the brand. So how about using ‘customer service’ as a game changer for your brand building efforts? </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />To build your brand using customer service, aligning your brand intent to a strategic intent becomes imperative. A company needs to look at its overall strategic direction and brand related communications. From there it should look at its available resources and develop a plan around its existing customer service practices to ensure the brand spends more time building itself in the customer service stage. To do this a company has to put certain checklists in place.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">-<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Companies need to ensure they can build <b>brand aligned processes</b> into the various touch points accessible to the customer. This can start from a quick response system to customer complaints to even human assisted customer service over self service in case of high touch brands. Care of this magnitude will always be rewarded with greater brand recognition and loyalty.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">-<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Companies need to follow up the above measures with <b>brand aligned metrics</b> that allow them to judge success and work on improvements. Brands which are high touch need to look beyond routine customer service metrics to numbers that can help map service intent to the brand intent.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">-<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Unifying knowledge bases and customer service touch points can be another valuable step in aligning brand and service. By <b>brand aligning your touch points</b> a company can ensure similar treatment of customers across channels which guarantee the customer hearing the same brand message across channels.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />The above measures mainly emphasize the need to align your brand with all customer service related activities. By doing that a customer can easily connect with the brand, instead of just connecting with the product, which in the long run builds stronger brands with defined brand commitments and not just flashy flirtations.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">This is what we think, what do you think?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div></div>Custommercehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05600466199753291262noreply@blogger.com0